Car-roof.



J. E. OBRIEN & C. HARTER.

GAR ROOF, APPLICAHON FILED SHN-15h 1914.

1,159425. Patenedep. 2l, i915.

@jf MMM@ JOHN E.

OBRIEN'AND CHARIS Haaren, oF sT. LoUIs, MISSOURI.

cnn-noon;

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 21, 1915.

Application led September 19, 1914. Serial No. 862,506.

T0 all yZIJ/om it may concern.'

Be it known that we, JOHN E. OBRIEN and CIL-xmms Haaren, citizens of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car-Roofs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable"others skilled in the art to `which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had. to the accompanying dra\vings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 1s a transverse section taken through the upper portion .of a freight cal', the same being provided with a roof of our improved construction. ,Fig 2 is an enlarged detail section taken Online 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of a portion of the fabric forming a part of our improved roof and showing the opening formed therein for one of the running board saddles. F ig, 4 is an enlarged transverse rsection taken through the central portion of the roof and one of the running board saddles thereon. ig. 5 is an enlarged cross section taken approximately on the line 5 5 of lFig. 4. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section of a portion of the roof. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional View of an inside roof constructed in accordance with our invention.

Our invention relates to car roofs and more particularly to the outer surface or roof covering, the principal object of ourA invention being to provide a comparatively simple and inexpensive car roof having an outer covering member which is formed in one piece, thus eliminating the necessity of forming joints which, as is well known, tend to open under the strains and vibrations to which car roofs are ordinarily subjected and as a result, the roofs become leaky and necessitate frequent repairs.

Further objects of`our invention are to` form a car r'oof in one piece and of Hexible material so that it will readily give or yield to the twisting and uneven movement of the roof boards which movement is caused by the strains and vibration imparted to the superstructln'e of the car during transit, and further to provide a roof which can be easily and cheaply applied and can be repaired without requiring special tools and the services of skilled workmen.

1V ith the foregoing andother objects in view, our invention consists in certain novel features of Vconstruction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully pointed out.

eferring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, 10 designates the side walls of an ordinary freight car; 11, the top side plates thereof; 12, the .facia plates; 13, the end plate, and 14 the roof boards, all of which parts are of ordinary construction.

Applied to the upper portion of the facia plates at the sides and ends of the car is an ordinary, half-round molding strip 15. The' roof covering as contemplated by our invention comprises a comparatively thin body 16 of self-hardening plastic material in which is embedded a reinforcing element 17, preferably in the form of .wire fabric or textile, such as burlap or canvas. This section of Wire fabric ortextile is of suflicient size to coverthe entire roof of the car and the edges of said section are extended downward over the molding strip 15, said edges being attached to the facia plates in any suitable manner.

'To accommodate the transverse blocks 18, which serve as running board saddles, rectangular'openings iig-are formed in the section of fabric or textile and in order to close these openings, caps 2O of self-hardening`g` plastic material, having embedded therein a section of wire fabric or textile, are formed, said caps being of sufficient size to receive the saddles 1S. There is slight clearance between t-he sides and ends of the saddle and the corresponding walls of the cap 1n order to permit relative movement of the parts.

The lower edges of these caps are extended outwardly as designated by 21, andsaid edges are attached to the body of the roof covering in any suitable manner, preferably by means of rivets. After these caps have been properly applied to the main body of the covering, the edges 21 are preferably coated with self-hardening plastic material in order to form an air and dust tight joint between the edges of the cap and t-lle body of the roof covering. l

In the manufacture of our improved Car roof it may he t'ound :ulvantageous to form theI roof covering separately from thecal and to apply said covering after the roof boards havel been placed in position, in which instance, it will he necessary, of course, to

permit the plastic material to become set.

and hardened before said applied. However,

roof covering is so 'L eefit may be desirable to 1.10

form the roofcoveringdirectly on the roof boards and where such procedure is carried out,a layer of comparatively thin paper 22 is laid directly on the roof boards, after which a thin coating of, self-hardening plastic material is laid directly on said paper.

plates, said edges being finished with a coating'of self-hardening plastic material and the runningboard saddles are covered with the caps, as hereinbefore described. Thus the roof covering is applied directly to the roof. boards and after said covering has become set and hardened a very strong and durable roof is. provided. The lay-er of paper 22 prevents the first layer of plastic material from adhering to the roof boards and consequently when the car'is in service and subjected to `strains and vibrations, the roof covering is capable of movement independently of the roof boards.

Our improved construction entirely eliminates the formation of soldered or nailed joints, 'such as are necessary in the formation of sheet metal car roofs, and by forming a one-piece roof, leakage resulting from loose or ruptured joints is done away with.

It will be understood that the roof portion of a car is subjected, not only to horizontal movement independently of the superstructure, but to twisting and torsional movement resulting from the service strains and vibrations imparted to the car body and such movement naturally affects the roof covering. Where such a covering is made in sections, the joints between the same readily open under the uneven movement imparted to said covering, but by ouriinproved construction, the entire roof covering, being flexible to a certain degree, can readily yield and give in any direction and as a result the life or term of 'service of a roof of this construction 'is much greater than a sectional or jointed roof.

in the foregoing description, we have described what is known as an outside roof,

and while this construction is generally desirable, it will be understood that our invention can be utilized in the construction of an inside roof, i. e., the body of selfliardenng plastic material with the einbedded fabric applied to the inside of the 3 roof boards, as shown in Fig. 7, and if found necessary, the inside covering can be supported" by carlines or the like.

Thek self hardening plastic material utilized in the formation of our improved roof may be composed of various combinations of ingredients, it only being necessary that said material be practically water and weather proof and iieXible to a certain dcgree when dry, and in experiments'nd practice we have obtained satisfactory results in the use of a compound ordinarily known as roofers cement, the saine being a mixture of powdered or pulverized asphalt, powdered or pulverized asbestos, crude oil, and a suitable drier siicli as japan. In some instances it may be found desirable. to include with the above mentioned mixture, a certain per cent. of ordinary Portland cement.

A. roof of our improved construction is comparatively simple, can be cheaply niaiiufactured, and can be readily repaired.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, forni and construction of the various parts of our iiiiprovcd'roof can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of ourV invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

vWe claim:

l. As a new article of manufacture, a car roof covering comprising a body of selfhardening plastic material in which is embedded a reinforcing fabric, which body of plastic material with the embedded fabric is of sulicient size to cover the entire roof and caps formed of self-hardeiiing plastic material having reinforcing fabric embedded therein, which caps are located in the center of said roof and are adapted to receive the car roof running board saddles.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a car roof covering comprising a single section of fabric of sufficient size to cover the entire roof, a body of self-hardening plastic material in which said fabric is embedded, the edges of said roof covering being extended downward so as to over-lie the upper portions of the car body superstructure, and the central portion of said ioof being provided with 'caps adapted to receive the car roof running board saddles.

8. A car roof covering comprising a single section of fabric of sufficient size to cover the entire roof, a body of self-hardening plastic material in which said fabricv is embedded, there being a series of openings .formed in the central portion of said covering to accommodate the running board saddles, and upwardly projecting caps rigidly fixed to the roof covering around said openings, said caps being formed of sections of fabric embedded in self-hardeiiing plastic material.

4. A car roof covering coniiirising a single section of fabric of suliicient size to cover the entire roof, a body of self-hardening ings, said caps being formed of sections of fabric embedded in self-hardening plastic material, and said roof covering being provided with depending edges which overlieroof covering comprising a body of self hardening plastic material in which is embedded a reinforcingifabric, and a series of running board saddle caps forming a. part of said car roohthe edges of which caps are bonded to the body of the roof covering.

In testimony whereof We hereunto aiix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses, this 15th day of September, 19M.

JOHN E. OBRIEN. CHARLES HARTER.

Witnesses:

M. P. SMITH, M. A. HANDEL. 

